Jason Logan

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Speaking from a dais in the RBC Canadian Open media centre Friday morning, with RBC chief marketing officer Mary DePaoli seated in the front row, new Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum didn’t pull any punches with regards to the future of the national men’s championship’s location.

After formalizing the tournament’s return to Glen Abbey GC in 2018, and suggesting an end-of-year announcement about 2019 (possibly Glen Abbey again or maybe Hamilton G&CC, which hosted its first Canadian Open in 1919, but is apparently seeking a larger cash guarantee than last time around in 2012), Applebaum was asked about the possibility of the tournament once again moving around the country to cities such as Vancouver, Calgary or Montreal.

“We are really happy in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area),” Applebaum stated after a preamble about embracing the passion fans across Canada have for the tournament.

The reason for a GTA location is largely economical, with the tournament struggling to make money when it moves away from Canada’s largest centre. While the event ran a small deficit in Vancouver in 2011, it lost a whopping $1.2 million in Montreal in 2014 due chiefly to poor attendance. It stands to reason that RBC isn’t in the business of losing money.

With Glen Abbey owner ClubLink Corp wanting to develop the Jack Nicklaus-designed course into homes and retail shops in the near future — i.e. as soon as it can gain approval to do so — to cash in on a sky-high real estate market, where in the GTA the Canadian Open will go is the question. Golf Canada’s plan is to create a new public facility — perhaps in partnership with other national sports federations — that will replace Glen Abbey as a permanent venue. As such, the governing body is currently looking at sites around Toronto — three in particular with an apparent clear leader in Vaughn — to accomplish this. (For more, read Robert Thompson’s SCOREGolf Magazine story from our Spring Issue here.)

In the interim, because such a venture would take years to complete, the tournament could return to Hamilton, St. George’s or perhaps even The National GC of Canada if that private facility was willing to change its male-only membership policy. However long term, Applebaum was adamant about recreating Glen Abbey so to speak, which would make logistics, operations and continuity simple.

“We would love to be at a permanent home,” he confirmed, when asked if a mini-rotation among GTA courses was a possibility.

When the tournament will take place in the future is also at play. It has been stuck behind the Open Championship for a decade, and although RBC’s sponsorship of a stable of stars has helped with the field’s quality over the years, it has not been radar of the tour’s most popular players, such as Tiger Woods (who last played in 2001) and Phil Mickelson (who last played in 2004) and more recently Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. (It should be pointed out, however, that Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson, non-RBC players with Canadian connections, have teed it up fairly regularly.) Whether those superstars would come to Canada if the tournament were not behind a major championship is debatable, but the date has remained a scapegoat nonetheless.

Though Golf Canada and RBC officials have always maintained the Canadian Open is top-of-mind within PGA Tour headquarters when it comes to schedule changes, first-year tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s hint at an overhaul to ensure the season finishes before the NFL kicks off in September could have a profound effect on Canada’s only PGA Tour event.

Though nothing has been set in stone, there is talk the schedule crunch could reduce the number of FedEx Cup playoff events to three from four, and that one summer tournament might have to move to the fall portion of the schedule that now begins each wraparound season. One source suggested The Greenbrier Classic, currently played in early July three weeks after the U.S. Open and three weeks before the Open Championship, has been targeted to change dates. That would open up the schedule slot Golf Canada has long desired and thought it had several years ago before Greenbrier Resort owner Jim Justice swooped in and secured it.

Understandably, Applebaum offered no specifics with regards to a possible Canadian Open date change, but did say this on a future PGA Tour shuffle: “Watch this space.”

As far as tournament director Brent McLaughlin’s absence from the event this weekend, Applebaum reiterated Golf Canada’s official statement from Thursday evening that it was an internal matter and no further information was forthcoming. Applebaum did say an announcement on an interim tournament director for next month’s CP Women’s Open in Ottawa would occur soon.